JT Tees Off

JT Kenney! He snagged the day one lead with an impressive 29-14 - they were all giants!

March 5, 2015
by Rob Newell

There was fuel, and there was flame.

The fuel was in the form of a delayed largemouth bass spawn on Lake Toho that had been pushed back for several weeks due to low water temperatures and high water flows through the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. The biological clocks of Toho’s bass have been ticking, so to speak.

The flame was in the form of a fast warm-up over the last three days, a full moon occurring right now and water temperatures rising nearly 10 degrees in the last 72 hours.

At the day-one takeoff of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Mercury this morning, everyone held his breath for the combustion that was about to occur.

And when fuel met flame there were a few fiery flare-ups, but not of the size that many expected.

In all, the 20-pound mark was reached by seven anglers on a warm, balmy day that had five-alarmer written all over it.

Exactly why the bite was not as good as expected is still in question. Many pros reported a vanishing act of bedding bass that had just started to show up during practice, but have now disappeared despite highly favorable conditions

At the top of the standings are Florida ace JT Kenney and Missouri veteran Stacey King, who checked in with 29-14 and 28-1, respectively.

Kenney was the only one who really scared the 30-pound mark. He put in a considerable amount of time this winter scouting Toho and Kissimmee, looking for the exact kinds of places where bass could spawn. In all, he found nine small areas that held the perfect ingredients of vegetation and bottom composition for the exact stage of the spawn and conditions that the anglers have been faced with this week. During practice he fished the potential areas extremely slowly with hookless baits, daring bass to breathe on his lure so he could mark their exact locations on his GPS. In essence, he was “looking” for bedding bass without really seeing bass at all.

“I actually color-coded my waypoints,” Kenney says. “If I thought the fish that bit was a big one, I marked it in red. When I thought they were smaller fish, I marked those with other colors. Today, I went to the place that had the most red dots [one spot with seven waypoints], and I’m pretty sure I caught all but one.”

One of those “red dots” was an 8-15, which anchored Kenney’s limit today.

The place that Kenney fished today, the one with the most red dots, is also his smallest area. He has plenty of other areas, but his other spots have only one to three waypoints apiece. He also says he has no intentions of returning to the area that he fished today.

With North winds expected to blow in tomorrow, Kenney is prepared. He says he intentionally sought out places in “all four corners” of the system, so to speak, and in both lakes in order to have water to fish no matter the conditions.

“I really tried to plan and anticipate for every wind direction,” says Kenney. “I want to be careful not to fish in a place tomorrow that might be more protected later in the week. But who knows. I’ve been at this game a long time, and I know it can all go to pot in hurry.”

A 19-pound limit on Lake Toho today was enough to crack the top 10 on the pro side. Co-angler Chad Randles matched that total while fishing from the back of the boat to take the early lead on the amateur side. What’s more amazing than Randles’ catch is that his lead is less than 1 pound. Kentucky co-angler John Hunter is in second with 18-04, which included the Bridgford Big Bass, an 8-11 hawg. Not far behind him is Ken Keirsey of Oklahoma with 17-1. The co-angler champion will be crowned at tomorrow’s weigh-in.

Toho on YouTube

The second stop of the FLW Tour season on Lake Toho was a big-bass bonanza. Thanks to mandatory POV cameras and marshals, plenty of big bass were caught on camera. Aside from individual catches, pros also documented their practice and tournament days to give the viewer and inside look at how their event unfolded. Below is the full list of videos released by the pros at this point. READ MORE »

February 12, 2019

Montevallo Wins on Seminole

The University of Montevallo duo of Justin Barnes of Monroeville, Alabama, and Adam Carroll of Carrollton, Georgia, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake Seminole Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 1 ounce. The victory earned the Falcon’s bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship. READ MORE »

Top 10 Patterns from Lake Toho

While the Lake Toho FLW Tour event presented by Ranger Boats fell basically right on top of a wave of spawning bass piling into the shallows, many of the top finishers targeted bass that were staging out or transitioning to or from their beds. READ MORE »

February 11, 2019

Top 10 Baits from Toho

The second stop of the 2019 FLW Tour landed right on the spawn on Lake Toho and the other lakes on the Kissimmee Chain. Top finishers caught bass in all phases of the spawn. Collectively, they used just about every bait you’ll ever need if you want to catch a bass this time of year in the Sunshine State. READ MORE »

February 11, 2019

Marshal Program a Big Hit for Hughes

Retired minister Dan Hughes made the most money he’s ever banked in a fishing tournament, and he did it without even picking up a rod.
The 70-year-old Fitzgerald, Ga., resident was the winner of FLW’s marshal contest at the Tour’s second stop of the season at Lake Toho, presented by Ranger Boats. Paired with John Cox on day one and Chris Neau on day two, Hughes’ pros combined for 41 pounds, 10 ounces during his two days on the water to take home the $2,500 top prize. READ MORE »

Gross Grabs Toho Lead

Day three of the FLW Tour presented by Ranger Boats on Lake Toho was tough on the leaders, but Buddy Gross stayed steady, rising to first from fifth with 19 pounds, 12 ounces. In total, Gross has amassed 62 pounds even through three days, which is just about a pound ahead of Darrell Davis, who caught 25-12 for a 60-15 total and rocketed up to second from 13th. Going into the final day, everyone in the top six is within 5 pounds of the lead, and the way the Kissimmee Chain is pumping out big ones, that counts as the slimmest of margins. READ MORE »

Cox Holds Lead after Day Two of FLW Tour at Lake Toho Presented by Ranger Boats

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, brought five bass to the scale weighing 17 pounds, 4 ounces, to hold the lead after day two of the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats. Cox’s two day total of 10 bass weighing 48-13 will give him... READ MORE »